My Sworn Duty
by Yusei
Summary: This wasn't running. I wasn't running. I was giving another to attain what I missed. To defend his world where mine was doomed. While I watched from the bridge. Speculation oneshot, spoilers for 107 and 108.


**Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's - My Sworn Duty**

by Yusei

_**Summary – **__"This wasn't running. I wasn't running. I was giving another to attain what I missed. To defend his world where mine was doomed. While I watched from the bridge. Speculation oneshot, spoilers for 107 and 108"._

_**Disclaimer – **__I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's nor any of the characters._

_**A / N – **__So I jumped on one of the band wagons about the God hovering around in Z-ONE, eager to see just what the truth is. This was written about a couple of days after 108 aired, but preparing for upcoming examinations through the last week of timetabled lessons has taken up time. Again, this is simply speculation on my part that came after a morning of English Lit., so this is another test at writing first-person narrative and literary devices and the like. Final title and summary are pending, the ending was rushed so forgive the decrease in quality over the piece. Please read and review._

* * *

Lightning crackled overhead, lighting the deserted streets, void of life. I alone raced through them before the clouds could cut off any view of the dark skies overhead and pour their sorrows upon the city. Another purple bolt struck, windows shattered and women shrieked in terror. It almost made me feel glad that Aki was comatose; she wouldn't want to see all this chaos. My weary legs screamed in protest, wanting no more to run as far from my enemy as possible. But I had to continue to run. I couldn't allow disaster to fall upon this city, especially if it were to come from me.

But to hear those screams of terror and from the mouths of innocent people – people only caught up in this because they lived in Neo-Domino – it only served to make me feel like a coward. I was the one whose name people chanted around the Duel Stadium, my name was the one that echoed through the streets and across television stations. I was supposed to be their saviour, the man that slayed the impending embodiment of the Apocalypse. But against this new threat, I was nothing. I had been proven to be of no use.

I turned the corner, diving into the protective shadows where he couldn't see me. Back pressed against the wall, heavy pants replaced default soft breaths while my heart pounded relentlessly. I looked around the corner and to the dimly lit road beneath the Duel Circuit I had been on not long ago. He was still there, patrolling like some emperor, hunting me down like the prey I had become.

I had failed and he was thirsty for my blood. I had never felt so scared; this was beyond anything I felt before. More than the fear Ccapac Apu instilled in me. More hopelessness than when I awoke to find myself in the very Underworld that threatened to rise and cover over the living world.

It seemed Yliaster had finally won.

That man, I don't know his name, I think someone on the other end of a communication line called him Placido, had confessed to controlling the Ghost Riding Roids that had terrorised Neo-Domino a year ago, and now they had come in an army to attack all the teams that had gathered for the WRGP. It didn't make sense, but then again, nothing did. My eyes fell to my left hand, that which usually clutched the handgrip of my D-Wheel as adrenaline pulsed through me, spurring me on to fight, measuring my spirit as I would go faster and faster.

But this time, the barrier had become too much. And speed was no more.

Why couldn't I pull off what that guy said in the dreams I experienced? Why couldn't I achieve Accel Synchro? My fist clenched, there was no hope and there was no speed. There was only despair and darkness ahead. Without Accel Synchro, Stardust and the others would only suffer imprisonment every time they were played against Wisel and Skiel. That is… if they escaped to see the next duel. Ancient Fairy and Stardust had been lucky, but Wisel and Skiel continued to hunt. And hunt until they would keep their prizes locked inside of their bodies.

It was after the first appearance of Ghost and Wisel; I began to live through these dreams, hearing a distant voice calling to me. Whispering that Synchro had to evolve further, expand beyond the limitations it had reached and rise to a new level, a new expansion; a new evolution. But Wisel remained on my mind, I doubted my ability to overcome it and enter the Clear Mind state that was required to move on beyond this stage and into the next. And just as I pulled myself together in the beginning stages of the WRGP, Placido appeared.

Everything about Placido terrified me – Wisel, the fact that he somehow combined with his D-Wheel, what he said. He said that Accel Synchro involved pushing Momentum to the same levels that Rudger did eighteen years ago. And replicate Zero Reverse. I couldn't allow that, I couldn't destroy the Neo-Domino that we – Team 5Ds – had built. Satellite was no more, but now an extension of the city, destroying Neo-Domino would be destroying our homes and Daedalus.

So there had to be another way. Another way to overthrow Yliaster's reign of terror and deceit. I would make it my duty to find that way.

But for now, I had to find my friends, wherever they were. The face of Neo-Domino was changing, a terrible storm had come over during my battle with Placido, and now, a blackout had spread across the city. Just as Godwin said happened during that night. The night that the wheel of fate began to spin faster and faster, bringing me to face my demons and installing new emotions inside of me that I had never expressed before. Or hid away while feeling them seep through the cracks. Opening the doors and shining a light upon the path I had been destined to walk. And led me to this dead-end.

My breaths remained heavy when he drove into view, still using the Duel Highway as a means of seeking me out. I took a step along the wall and towards the darker shadows behind me.

The artificial man's single visible eye scanned the ground beneath sharply. No stone would go unturned; he was truly Godwin's successor. His grey hair, made of two shades, waved in the wind created through his speed, riding at a reasonable pace to scan everywhere; clearly he didn't want me to escape. He would search the entire planet's face if need be. The four wires that protruded from his back and connected him to the D-Wheel followed, sending another chill down my spine. Just what _is_ this man? Was he a Riding Roid? But he said that he was the one _commanding_ them, what was going on?

He continued on, surely hissing my name with all the venom he could muster, all the hatred that he felt because of the Ghosts destroyed and the previous defeat Wisel suffered. But beyond that, there was nothing. I had never seen nor heard of this man. He had come out of nowhere and suddenly invoked his wrath upon Neo-Domino. He opposed the Synchro Monsters that represented evolution in the game of Duel Monsters, something we had all grown up with, a game that spanned generations into a past cloaked in darkness, returned to years that those of us without an education remained in the dark about. He had become a new barrier for the human race, prepared to paralyse evolution and bring it to an end. People were always moving forward, towards the futures they worked for, evolution had to continue.

But I had failed to defend that, and now my friends were out there fighting Ghosts that were targeting me, all sent by Placido. There was nothing I could anymore, Stardust couldn't hold up against Wisel, this wasn't like any Earthbound God or the ace monsters of the other teams in the WRGP; this was something impervious to our dragons, our partners. These were exigent enemies, feeling impossible to overcome. But there had to be a way. I found find it.

Placido moved on, lightning struck again. He had destroyed the glass of the Duel Highway some time back, before our Riding Duel began, he had a terrifying power lying in him, what he claimed I had stirring inside of me. The power to repeat the past and become a shadow of my father; as a member of Yliaster, he was aware of the truth about Zero Reverse. He knew just which nerves to hit. With him gone, I ran.

Into the darkness and towards home, the garage that had been home since Daedalus was completed and our goal to unite Satellite and Neo-Domino became a reality. There was no-one there, only the equipment left lying abandoned after the completion of the D-Wheel engine programme that had taken months on end. There was no sign of anyone else, the others must have been caught up in the chaos behind me, locked in the struggle that I had failed to bring an end to.

I glanced over my shoulder, there was nothing but the distant lightning and shattered shards of windows flying in the air. The silence was quickly filled with the mournful howl of the wind, a powerful gust sweeping across the plaza outside the garage. Tables at the café across toppled over and scraped across the ground, chair slammed into windows and shattered them, scattering the shards. Such destruction, he was going to tear apart the city just like Zero Reverse did.

No matter where I went, it followed me.

I pushed against the winds, falling through the doors of the garage and landing atop the stairs. The howling continued regardless, playing with the doors behind me and slapping my legs with the right one. I pulled it in, pain was nothing, Aki had felt it and pulled through; I would just have to do the same. Down the stairs and to the computer, my fingers hit the keys, hoping to salvage some kind of life from it. There was nothing, it had been lost in the blackout. A grunt of frustration and my fist hit it, knocking one of the keys from the keyboard and tapping against the ground.

Was there nothing I could do anymore?

I stood there waiting. Waiting to hear the voices of my friends, waiting for their concerned faces to meet mine. Just waiting… to confirm they were still alive.

Nothing happened. No-one came.

It felt like an eternity, but the lights did flicker to life, lifting my head. Perhaps Placido had ended his rampage for now. But he would still be hunting me, I couldn't endanger people anymore. I couldn't leave my friends in the line of fire, like Rua and Ruka had been a year ago with the rise of Skiel. I left the computer and climbed up the staircase that led to the bedrooms, throwing the door to mine open and moving through. Inside, the duffel bag that had been used during the Security Impound operation sat. I pulled my standard clothes and threw them in, adding in the Ground Duel deck of mine and a few other possessions, including the laptop I had used both in the days of Satellite life and here in Neo-Domino. The zip moaned as it slid along its predetermined path and I flung the bag over my shoulder.

Down the stairs again and there was no sign of my friends, no bickering voices, no laughter of the kids. There was nothing but the wind. From the shelves beside the computer, I snatched a sheet of paper and a pen lying nearby, scribbling words onto the white face. Words of guarantee, a vow. Words of… cowardice.

I wasn't running away. This wasn't running away.

That's what I said over and over again to myself.

But it felt like running away.

The ink dried instantly and remained forever staining the piece. My message to the others. Then focus came to the computer, the lights overhead continued to shine dimly. My hands moved to the machine's power button, pressing it hopefully. The screen blared to life. A moment of typing and I was online, hacking into Security's database, a common practice back in the days of Satellite life. I obtained an address that sounded like the kind Godwin would have had eighteen months ago and copied it. If it wasn't to Godwin, it would at least reach Daly or some high up position in Security, they would report to Jeager and he would pass the message on. My fingers punched in the second message, a challenge, throwing the gauntlet in Placido's way and commencing what felt like a game of cat and mouse. My right hand's ring finger sank and it was then that I noticed it had fallen into the cavity created by the missing key. That my anger and lack of judgement had caused.

Shaking it off, I continued. I had to continue. Else Placido would hunt me down like a dog and destroy everything we had all been working for. The message was set and passing through invisible wires between me and Security.

_**Placido, if you want me, then come and get me. Chase me from Neo-Domino and we'll be free to create a new Zero Reverse.**_

He didn't care for this city, I'm sure he'd enjoy seeing another Zero Reverse. All he said was to strike nerves in me; he wanted this city as nothing more than a crater in the ground. I wouldn't allow that, so we would take our battle somewhere else. The power died after that, plunging the garage into darkness. My eyes moved to the doors leading towards the outside world again and stepped towards it. Then I saw it.

A mirror was hanging on the wall, capturing a reflection of me. I turned to it, seeing a narrow trickle of blood down my face, the source just beneath my right eye. The path was parallel to my Marker, a cut from the fall to reach inside this place. Larger than the standard cut, but a small wound nonetheless. There were more important things to focus on.

I climbed up the stairs and into the wind; droplets of the blood at my chin were torn from me and hit the ground, stretching across the ground until they reached their physical limits. I ignored it and focused back on the way I had come from, somewhere in this city, my friends were fighting and my D-Wheel was waiting.

So I ran into the maelstrom.

It took a short while to return to where I had been while Placido was hunting me down, turning the corner into the deserted street. Further down the path was a road that led to the Duel Highway. My eyes scanned left and right a number of times before my body leapt forward, heading in the opposite direction Placido. It only took moments to find my D-Wheel lying on its side having spun out of control, helmet tossed by its side. They had been shielded from the winds by the glass panels that had survived the brutal storm. It was surprising that Placido had done nothing, unless he was watching, waiting, ready to snap the trap I had walked into shut. But there was nothing. So I slipped on the red helmet and dragged the D-Wheel from the ground, climbing inside and lowering the left arm.

Everything ached, and the duffel bag around me wasn't the source. The winds were threatening to tear Neo-Domino apart and everyone inside of it. What had started in the morning as a fierce WRGP match against Team Catastrophe had turned into the longest and most exhausting day in a long time. But there was no time to moan about just what had and was still unfolding. The engine revved and I shot forward.

Through the chaos I rode, keeping a lookout for any of the others, any sign that they had come this far after the onslaught from the Ghost army. There was nothing, even Placido seemed to have vanished. Or gone elsewhere. Maybe he had received the message from the people on the other end of his communication from before. The one that stated that duelling now was reckless and could cost them. Ghost first appeared a year ago, had they been sitting and waiting all of that time? What were they waiting for? Just what were they planning?

There were too many questions raised and no answers to bring an end to them. Seeing a lane leading down from the Highway to the ground, I turned off, not willing to risk another duel with Placido.

There was a path I had taken from Neo-Domino once; otherwise, I had remained here since Daedalus was completed. I had to recall the route and use that as an escape, to lure Placido after me and leave the people here alone. I was his target; he had combined Wisel and Skiel, meaning that the others wouldn't have a Kikōtei Infinity. Through the back borders of Neo-Domino, I departed, what felt like for the first ever, I was heading away. Using the same path that had guided me to Crash Town.

It felt like an eternity, Neo-Domino shrinking until it was nothing. I could only hope that Placido had taken the bait and was heading after me, away from his stronghold. Lightning struck around me, forcing my D-Wheel to a halt. I looked around, heart pounding again, it could only mean that the plan had worked and he had come.

"_You're proving to be a true pain in my side, Yusei Fudo"._

My neck twisted away from Neo-Domino and ahead where Placido stood, detached from his D-Wheel atop a rock formation like a miniature cliff. His frown deepened, his unimpressed glare ever-present. I scowled; he had to be up to something I wasn't going to like.

"_Tell me what you're doing, why you're attacking Neo-Domino in the same way Zero Reverse tore it up"._

"_A lowly Signer like yourself isn't worthy of answers. All you need to know is you're going against God's will"._

"''_God's will'? You said that when you mentioned Yliaster before. Where you the one that Rudger met at the Nazca Lines?"_

"_I am not"._

"_Then who are you?"_

"_I am an agent of God, Placido. That's all you need to know"._

Another bolt of lightning struck the ground, ripping small pieces of rubble from the ground and tossing them in the air. I accelerated my D-Wheel to avoid the worst of it.

"_You cannot face the truth, can you? You really believe that your leaving Neo-Domino is to lead me away and protect them? You just can't face that you're your father's double, a generation later destined to rip apart Neo-Domino"._

I shook my head furiously, trying not to let his words get into me. That wasn't true!

"_You're running from that. And from everything else. That's what you've always done, isn't it? Bury your head in the sand"._

"_Shut up!"_

A smirk crept across his face, my eyes narrowed sharply, targeting him alone with invisible daggers. He loved this, he wanted me to get angry and unleash some kind of power to prove him right. Was this the kind of darkness Rudger spoke of over a year ago? Was this the darkness that was going to try and claim me? Perhaps the Dragon Head was opening a door for that to happen, like it had with him. The dragon's mind… vulnerable…

"_Do you plan for me to chase you across the Earth until I finally finish you off?"_

My eyes tapered again, all he was doing was calling out my cowardice. I wasn't a coward, I was doing what was right; I know it. The back wheel spun and the machine raced forward, this desert wasn't an ideal place to face Placido, there had to be somewhere better. I glanced over my shoulder, he remained standing there, neither heading for me nor back to the city.

So I would have to lure him out further. Somewhere else.

* * *

I lost track of time. Hours. Day. Weeks. Months. Years. I couldn't be sure of the date; I couldn't be sure what season it was. But I kept watch over Neo-Domino from afar, there was nothing about destruction. The WRGP was continuing normally. Then I heard from Ushio. An e-mail furiously asking what was happening and why I had left. I gave my reasons; he confirmed that Placido hadn't been seen after all the Ghosts were destroyed. I began to think of Team 5D's, my friends, and what they were going to do without me, there were only two D-Wheelers left, they would be disqualified. I hated myself for it all, but I couldn't lead Placido back, he was still searching for me.

A ray of hope shone through when Aki stood beside Jack and Crow, she filled in for me as the third D-Wheeler for the team. It felt great that she was back and riding, but at the same time… I was empty. I wanted to be with them, I wanted to ride alongside them. But I was a curse, a shadow of devastation. I couldn't be there…

Instead, I began to work on something. A key. I knew little about Placido and the Kikōtei Infinity monsters, only that there were two and that the people using them were with Yliaster. Placido and Lucciano. But the gruff voice that had spoken to Placido during our duel _couldn't_ be Lucciano, he was much older, much wiser, and there was no shrill laughter. Was there a third one?

He had never revealed himself, we could never be sure. So I remained in a small shack in the desert, far beyond where I had seen Placido. Using my D-Wheel, I was able to create a miniature Momentum generator, using it to power my laptop while I worked on the simulation. A simulation of the Clear Mind the voice in my dreams had told me about. A card.

It would be designed as a standard magic card, hidden from Placido's eyes. Using my abilities to hack, I had been able to tap into KaibaCorp's mainframe and replicate a programme that would allow me to create the card.

I don't know how long it took, but it felt like months, years, it was completed and I had gathered equipment to create a physical copy. The image represented what I envisioned the Clear Mind I had failed to achieve, purple streams of energy heading towards a glowing doorway, the place I aimed for. There was no text in the place of an effect, the only text that separated it from a normal Magic Card was the title.

_Z-ONE._

This was the result of the plan. This was what my efforts had been poured into. This was something that could hopefully be used against Yliaster. Glad that it had finally been achieved, I smiled.

And, as if on cue, a massive bolt struck outside. The window behind me shattered, slicing the air. One of the shards caught where I had been cut before leaving the others, opening the old wound. A drop of blood slipped free. He had come.

Hell was coming.

There was no time, if Placido was to come in now; then there would be no chance to finish off the preparations to head back to Neo-Domino and use Z-ONE. I turned back to the laptop, typing furiously, there would only be a matter of minutes before Placido would storm in and corner me. Z-ONE stood between the ring and little fingers of my left hand. I had been hoping to carry out a test and simulate the replacement for Clear Mind, something I would never be able to achieve in this state.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Z-ONE began to glow. This had to be the simulation, though it wasn't what I expected. The white light engulfed the room, growing in intensity, my eyes were forced to close and a groan came from my locked jaws.

"…_what has man accomplished when they looked towards evolution?"_

It was Placido's voice. His words during our duel.

"_Have you forgotten the backlash of Zero Reverse?"_

No… No, that's not what I was doing. I'm trying to _save_ the City from another Zero Reverse! _You _were the one destroying the city!

_I shook my head, the power I was using wasn't going to create another disaster. But… no-one had attempted this new type of Synchro Summoning before… How could I be sure I wasn't about to trigger a new incident and endanger more lives?_

_I didn't. I was doubting myself._

"_I'm tuning my Level 8 Synchro Monster Stardust Dragon and Level 2 Synchro-Tuner Formula Synchron!" The force was growing stronger. This was it! "Tsudoishi yme no kesshou ga aratana shina no tobira hiraku! Hikari sasu michi tonare!"_

_Around us, the same aura began to glow. This was Stardust and I becoming one, joining together in a new way other than becoming one being like Savior Star. We were going to do it! We were going to slay the Synchro Killer!_

"_You're trying to follow in your father's footsteps in the cursed fate you're trapped in!"_

No… _NO!_ My father _didn't_ cause Zero Reverse. Rudger did. _I'm_ not going to cause a new one! We were both doing whatever it took to prevent one.

_I won't... fail… everyone…_

"_AKKUSERU SHINKURO!"_

Stardust roared and Formula Synchron pieced itself together again.

I… failed…

* * *

My eyes opened when I realised that silence was all around me. I wasn't where I had been, had Z-ONE worked? Was this some kind of experience similar to Clear Mind? I looked around, the place was white, pale blue lines dividing the world – ceiling or sky, and ground – into squares. It was almost felt like this was somewhere inside of the cyber land the people of Neo-Domino never saw. The sight puzzled me, was this… _inside_ the card I had created? Was this where Clear Mind took people? Wherever it was, Placido couldn't get to me. But… had I abandoned my friends?

This… world – if one could call it that – seemed isolated, void of life. I had entered a detached plain that may or may not have been hiding away and used my card as a key to throw open the door and lure me in. The sea of white came to an end when I noticed my D-Wheel and duffel bag behind me. There was nothing else around. No-one to give me answers, no way to watch over my friends. Perhaps I was stranded in this world and cut off from my friends.

Perhaps… I was dead to the world I knew…

In the first moments of despair and frustration, I would have given almost anything to hear a voice, someone to explain to me just what I had done and what I had uncovered. But there was nothing. Silence.

Gradually, the truth pieced itself together. I was, indeed, inside of Z-ONE, I had become almost like a prisoner to a card I had created. Perhaps this was the kind of backlash Placido meant, like how my father died because of Zero Reverse, I had become a prisoner of something I created. But what I gained… was power.

Without there seeming to be any way back, my D-Wheel in its current state was useless. I had tried riding around, the same scenery stretched on forever. This place was flat, there was no change in scenery. There was nothing…

So I became desperate to find a way out, to learn what was happening in my absence, to find answers. What happened rewound my mind to the days that we embraced. The bag contained the tools that had been used to create the components responsible for completing Z-ONE. I clenched my fist, closed my eyes; wished with all my soul that they had never been a part of the process. Uncharacteristically, my fist hit the ground.

It trembled from the collison. But there was nothing I could do about it. There was nothing to do. I was alone in this place I had created, separated from my friends, the people I had been desperate to protect…

My eyes opened, and a gasp escaped me. The wrench that had been on the ground in front of me was gone. But I hadn't _touched_ it. Then it crossed my mind, what if in here, I had powers similar to Aki's? What if in here, I was the equivalent of a Psychic Duellist? I _had_ created this place, after all.

From assumption, I attempted it again, hoping for the wrench to return, my eyes fell closed. By concentrating, I could feel the power flowing through my veins, this strange sensation that Aki must have always felt. Perhaps, there was something I could do.

What came from those powers was a new form. My D-Wheel was transformed. It had become a new machine, in the shape of a comma that I could fit inside of. There were parts that resembled my D-Wheel, the curve that I would sit in front of was in tact at the base, creating the base of the shape, the tail. One of the golden-coloured pipe-like bars around was bent to resemble the arms of the D-Wheel that would be either side of me. The piece above where I would sit – or below if it was standing with the curve at the bottom – was almost a white replica of my helmet. In front of me, there were gaps in the armour plate, including one similar in shape to the Marker across my left cheek.

Just like Placido had combined with his D-Wheel, claiming that he had attained the ultimate transformation, I had found a way to combine with mine, without physically fusing like he had. This way, there was a chance that I could face him… once I returned to Neo-Domino… however I was going to.

In the mean time, I may as well investigate what it was like to be one with my D-Wheel. It was strange, to see the machine like this, something I had spent two years building and perfecting with the previous eighteen months on top of that. And now, it had become this. When I returned, I would restore it, a promise I vowed. Because of what it meant to Rally and my other friends from before the plight to Neo-Domino, when the wheel of fate remained silent and still. I climbed inside, it felt surreal. Through the narrow trenches in the mask, I could see slits of the world I had become a part of, my left eye peered through the top gap just above where the divisions resembled my Marker, somewhat fitting.

But there was nothing more I could do to move forward. No-one to tell me what had happened and how my friends were. There was still nothing I could do for the world I called my home. So… I would find someone to. Or… _create_ an agent to do so until I could escape myself.

For a long time, I thought about what this person would be like, what they would look like. It had to be someone capable of helping my friends as well as taking on Yliaster without making him or her too similar to those I held dear. I closed my eyes as it came to envisioning him. What would his hair be like? What kind of clothes would he wear? What would build would he have?

The man was born before my eyes. But it was far from a natural birth, he entered this isolated plain as a full-grown man, clothed in a dark blue Riding Suit. Over his chest, grey breast plates with yellow ovals fixed inside hung over his shoulders. His eyes were concealed by thick carnation shades, at the top of his head, his dark blue-green hair stood as though he had suffered a terrible shock through his body.

He stood frozen, as though I had forgotten to give him a will to move. But after a moment, he did turn, seemingly taking in the blank landscape.

"Where am I?"

"This place is not the world known as Earth… this is a detached place". My voice was not the same as usual, it had been disguised by the shell around me, something that felt necessary.

He turned to face me, perplexed by what was happening to him. "Who are you?"

"I am the one that created you. To fulfil a mission that will decide the fate of the world".

"'Decide the fate of the world'?" he echoed, stunned by the responsibility handed to him.

"Yes. Dark Glass, you must find the Signers in Neo-Domino City and protect them. You _must_ stop those working under the name Yliaster. We're still not sure of their motives, but they mean to destroy the city and possibly the world. They cannot be allowed to succeed".

"I understand".

"I'll send you to Neo-Domino where you must find those bearing the crimson Birthmarks. Those known as 5D's".

Dark Glass remained silent. As a creation of my will, I prayed that I could send him from this world, but I had yet to find the door. The door to send him back and a door to unlock myself. Like some kind of servant, he stood because I hadn't given him an order to move, but that detail was unimportant. I concentrated as hard as I could, to open a passage for Dark Glass and his D-Wheel to move through.

A light began to shine, rising across his body. His eyes fell to see the light, but he did nothing to resist or question what was happening. He remained still, silent. Across seconds, more of him faded into the brightness that blended with this world.

And he was gone.

Thankfully, I had succeeded. But I had attempted the same thing myself and failed. Why was that? Why couldn't I throw open the locked doors?

A long time passed after the mission had been handed to Dark Glass, there was no way of me learning what had happened. So I wandered this world, both inside and outside my D-Wheel. If anyone was to arrive, I would use it as a mask to protect myself in the case that they were a servant under Yliaster. But no-one broke the barrier. Perhaps Dark Glass was going to be the last human I would ever see.

* * *

Nothing changed. Nothing appeared. I began to wonder if Death would ever walk this plain. Or if I would be isolated here for eternity. The thought was enough to drive one mad. All those times I had preached about the importance of friendship and bonds – even the underlying meaning of my own name connecting with that belief – and I had wound up here. Alone.

I stood in front of the new modified version of my mask, staring at the white sky divided into squares. A tear escaped my eye. What were they doing? What were they thinking? Were they still alive? How much time had passed?

There were so many questions. _Too_ many questions.

And no answers to end them.

I just wanted to see them. To share the days we had with them. Why… why had I surrendered that?

For the sake of the world? Or because I was scared…

I could not be sure, but I was paying for it.

Hopelessly, I climbed back into the creation that had been born in this world, the mechanical ally that had always been there with me, even at the door to Death as the Earthbound Gods rose from the bowels of the planet, even when it and I were facing the end of our purposes amongst our kinds. There was nothing but us. A man and his bike.

Alone, we were. I was as alive as it. And it I.

Once inside, I slumped, staring through the slits of the mask. I turned, hanging upside down. Rua would have been amused to witness the sight, but he was not here.

No-one was.

A sudden brightness caught me eye. I turned to see what had happened, who had managed to enter my Z-ONE, or if I had simply gone mad and began hallucinating. That was quickly discarded. There _were_ people here. And who stood there shocked me.

A blonde woman. A blue haired man vaguely resembling Dark Glass. And… _me?_ No… another one. Yusei Fudo.

He seemed as surprised as I, but he could not see my face. For now, it seemed best that way, not to strain him anymore than he would be. But who were these people with him? All three gasped, and stared. I could feel a connection with the blue haired man, why did he seem familiar? I focused on him, and then, it dawned on me.

He _was_ Dark Glass. His eyes were identical. He was the agent I had sent back to my world. So then… why was there Yusei and this blonde woman? Was this Yusei a Riding Roid created by Placido to hunt my friends? There was only one way to find out. With the three frozen in shock, I centred on Yusei.

Across his eye, streams of green digits flowed. Signs of my analysis. I was reaching inside of him, searching for the answers I desperately sought. I would learn just what had happened and why this Yusei Fudo and his female companion existed. On their feet, they seemed to pass out and as soon as I retained the information I sought, another light began to shine. If Dark Glass was with this Yusei and the woman, then it was possible to send them back without threatening the planet. They vanished. I remained alone.

It was only fair; if, somehow, the Yusei I had seen was a genuine, then it wouldn't be fair to keep him prisoner in this world that already holds me. I couldn't separate another from his life. So I would use what I had learned from him to finally attain answers.

And more questions followed.

From probing Yusei's mind, I learned that where they had come from was a past world, somewhere my friends and I had already lived and experienced. They were some time behind, still working towards the WRGP. Yusei was exactly as I had been at the time, only struggling to understand the meaning of Clear Mind and the Accel Synchro I had failed already. Dark Glass, known to Yusei and his friends as 'Bruno', had lost his memory somehow. I couldn't be sure what happened, but he remained unharmed, so it couldn't have had anything to do with Yliaster. Apparently, Mikage and Ushio had assigned him to live with Yusei, Jack and Crow where he displayed the impressive technological skills I had installed within him. But changes had occurred because of his existence. Jeager had attempted to steal the programme that I took months to make in my world, helped immensely in the other world by Bruno.

And then there was this woman. Sherry. She lived in France as the daughter of a man who owned a card company similar to Kaiba Corporation. Somehow, when I entered Z-ONE, the card moved from my world to this past world, and was discovered by Sherry's father. Yliaster must have caught on that something wasn't right as Sherry's family was attacked and slaughtered in an effort to obtain the card. Sherry was led across the world by her butler, Mizoguchi, until she came across Japan, where she heard the events of the Signer/Dark Signer conflict and began to seek out Yusei. She had been trying to discover the secrets of the card when Bruno appeared, trying to stop her efforts when she threatened Security Headquarters with a bomb, only to then assist her.

What they discovered horrified her, the analysis of the card using Security's super-computer turned up results that the card was 'NORMAL', something I had planned in order to keep it out of Yliaster's sights. And then it brought them to me, with Yusei racing after his friends.

So, somehow, Z-ONE had created a pathway between my world and a world of the past, months or years behind depending on how much time had passed in my world since the duel with Placido. And I was trapped between them. I needed to find out what happened to Dark Glass and how to help him regain his memory. Without him, Bruno was just another for Yliaster to target, someone who was meant to guide Yusei to Clear Mind had become just as clueless as everyone else on the matter.

I slumped back, releasing a heavy sigh. By creating Bruno and sending Z-ONE into that world, I had effectively destroyed lives. Sherry had been orphaned because of me, Bruno had no memory and no past, left to assume that he was a normal human. Seemingly, by trying to help, I had messed everything up and made things worse. Again. Just like back then… in the days of satisfaction.

Yet everything here was white.

White. Blank. Like a canvas. Divided into squares. Was this telling me something? That returning to this time was a chance to start over? Perhaps that had been the recent Z-ONE had somehow ended up in the other world, perhaps my failure had unlocked a new possibility, for another to succeed.

Nothing became still. Z-ONE was nothingness. But a path. A connection between two worlds plagued by the motives of Yliaster. I became the only life within the plain, and quickly sank into the silence that extended from one end to the other.

It was surprising just how much ran through one's head when I had the time to stand around and think endlessly, the memories that cropped up from days on either side of Daedalus Bridge and the faces I thought had been forgotten. There were occasions when returning to the past and thinking about times of leisure and friendship lifted my spirits for a while, to think that I had experienced those times at all, and other simply stamped on them, reminding me that I couldn't feel those warm and pleasant times again.

Thoughts moved to the future. If Yusei was to succeed and overthrow Yliaster, what would become of me and my world? Would I remain the same as my world transformed? Or would I be erased without any say over the end of my fate? Only time could, and would, tell.

Time continued on outside of Z-ONE. Moving without showing any signs, there was nothing for me to tell what was happening outside the barriers of this world. Nothing. I was forced to stand on the outside of the battle, unable to even seen past the force that locked everyone else out. It was strange, something felt different. And yet, the same. Nothing was going to change, but something was happening.

Bruno was doubting himself. Doubting in the same way I had, that fear that had brought about my failure and exposed my weakness. That which ended any hope for the bright future we believed we had attained by defeating the Dark Signers.

"_At this rate, Yusei will be…"_ How was it I could hear him? Was it because his emotions were peaking? Like how the Crimson Dragon could hear Jack and I as we searched desperately to save Kiryu and Carly? _"Can't I save Yusei?"_

I couldn't allow another world to end because of doubt. Because of uncertainty. There had to be something I could do.

"_You can. Remember. Your task"_.

In that moment, the negative vibes were severed, maybe I had lost contact with him. Bruno… Dark Glass…

A moment without words passed.

"_I understand. I have to save Yusei no matter what… that's my task!"_

Belief.

It lived.

Inside my shell, I slouched and gazed at the sky – or ceiling, whatever was above – blankly. Presently, I hung upside down, something that, despite the laws of physics, seemed comfortable for this form. My connection with Dark Glass had been severed, and I couldn't be sure why. All I could hear was the distant chanting of an old voice.

"_Die! Die!"_

Over and over.

No, I won't die. And neither will Yusei. Nor Dark Glass.

I believe in them. I believe that they can alter the mistakes I made and create a new path. Something much more solid that I built, a fragile bridge that could barely carry the world forward. I had promised my friends in the last note I left that I would do whatever it took to fix the world and right my wrong.

I believe…

And then it happened again. Another flash, movement. I turned around immediately, stunned that someone had appeared. Forever and a day had passed since Yusei, Sherry and Dark Glass appeared.

And again, I found myself staring at him. Yusei.

He stood, somewhat hunched and dazed, in an attire similar to that which he had been wearing the last time he appeared. The Riding Suit identical to the one I was clothed in.

"You are…" He paused before stepping forward. "Who are you?"

It stunned me, in his hand, he held a card. It couldn't be possible… _could it?_ Had he succeeded where I had failed? Was he battling Placido before he appeared here?

Maybe… this was the final destination… _of Clear Mind_. Maybe he had achieved it.

"Yusei" I spoke, only hoping that the words leaving me were correct. They certainly felt it. I never held the card he did. "You've obtained an alternate possibility".

He blinked at me, and then his eyes fell. Fell to the blank Synchro Monster card in his hand. It rose, turned before him as he stared at it in awe, clearly puzzled by how it had wound up in his possession.

"That is Clear Mind's requirement. A card that has the possibility of Accel Synchro".

"This is-?"

"You have the right to take it. All possibilities must be made equal".

"Do you know me?"

"You must follow the path you believe to be right". I began to retreat, he had proven himself to be the superior Yusei. But he would seek the answers to questions that I could not answer. He had surpassed me. "If you do so… Someday…"

"_Wait!"_ he cried, leaping forward with his free hand stretched open, reaching out to me.

"_You will prove yourself the ultimate Yusei"_ I whispered.

Instantly, he was engulfed in another light and vanished. I couldn't have him learn who I was. What I was. It would only serve to shake him further. I would hide behind the mask made moulded in the shape of my face. The message I had installed into Dark Glass had finally been heard, to undo everything by showing Yusei the truth…

Then it dawned on me. Placido and Dark Glass both had two forms. And what I felt from Bruno shortly before we were disconnected was a similar feel I had felt in my world when Placido moved onto the battlefield. It couldn't be…

Had I… _had I created Placido?_ Even unconsciously, had my power built him? Was I… was I just one in a series of Yusei Fudos that had failed and tampered in the next's world? Was I condemning Yusei to share my fate in time?

But… there had been no Bruno and Dark Glass in my world. Had the one before me tried something else and failed? But… Yusei had reached Clear Mind, he held the key to Accel Synchro. Perhaps, just maybe, he was about to break the cycle and unleash the true power that we had been seeking.

My fist clenched. I could only pray. And hope. And believe in Yusei.

And that I did.

Dark Glass, unearth the truth for me. Guide Yusei to the final barrier and use the speed you two have reached to smash through it. To open the door and finally save the world. End the cycle. Restore peace.

The feeling returned. A connection with Yusei was being established. His emotions were peaking. And they reflected how mine had been during my duel with Placido.

He was… struggling.

"_But what has man accomplished when they looked towards evolution?"_

…_Those words!_

"_Have you forgotten the backlash of Zero Reverse?"_

No… No, it- it couldn't be. Was he about to unleash the same pressure on Yusei as he had me? Was he going to use words that were too much for him to take while focusing on performing the Accel Synchro?

But like me, he continued.

"_I'm tuning my Level 8 Synchro Monster Stardust Dragon and Level 2 Synchro-Tuner Formula Synchron!" The force was growing stronger. This was it! "Tsudoishi yme no kesshou ga aratana shina no tobira hiraku! Hikari sasu michi tonare!"_

The power was growing stronger, I could feel Yusei's will expanding the barrier of his world and travelling through the connection. As though, he wanted me to fight. But I was useless now, like someone whose body had become paralyzed from a traumatic incident, I could do nothing to alter the course of fate.

But he could. The real Yusei Fudo could.

"_You're trying to follow in your father's footsteps in the cursed fate you're trapped in!"_

It was the same. Everything. Yusei's will faltered, weakening. His heart was struggling with the words that bore into his ears and charged into his mind. His spirit was wavering. Placido was going to win again… I had failed…

He was doubting himself, unlocking the greatest enemy of the new evolution. Holding back the human race.

"_AKKUSERU SHINKURO!"_

Stardust roared and Formula Synchron pieced itself together again.

A sigh escaped me. I had failed; my world, Yusei, everyone. I hadn't been strong enough to guide him.

My fist clenched tighter. On the arm connected to it was the Head of the Crimson Dragon. The lead Birthmark that had been passed to me by the legendary creature. Yet I was powerless, I could do nothing. When we believed we had understood the meaning of the Birthmarks and our alliance with the Crimson Dragon, another enemy appeared and wiped everything clean. We were back to facing an enemy that knew answers while we were clueless. My eyes opened again, blazing. We hadn't given up when the Earthbound Gods absorbed friends and allies, when they _possessed _friends.

The world was relying on us and we had overcome the darkness. Placido and Lucciano, and anyone else who had sided with Yliaster, were trying to prevent evolution. Like they were defenders of the future.

But the future would be achieved eventually. They couldn't prevent it forever. A flame had been lit inside of me, I realised what it was that had been holding me back: doubt over what I could do in the future, whether I could be strong enough to protect the world. Wisel had shaken me, the past haunted me, but I had to move on. That's what Placido didn't want. That's what he succeeded in preventing me from doing.

But there was still hope for Yusei.

I closed my eyes again, gently. And thought.

Thought about meeting with Yusei once again. But I couldn't leave this place, especially with another Infinity Monster yet to reveal itself. There had been voices before, one I'm sure was Lucciano's.

"_Is he one who's also heard the voice of God?"_

"_Does that mean he's the same as us?"_

What were they talking about? If it was somehow possible that, by whatever means, I had created Placido, had I created them? Perhaps the frustration I felt when I arrived had somehow resulted in something to do with their appearance six months after Godwin died. Which means… was _I_ their God? Had I influenced what happened? The strange stone tablets that fell from space, they were reported to be seized by the Public Security Maintenance Bureau.

Except… Yusei had just found his.

Was… my will what guided the tablets to these people?

There was so much I didn't understand. _Couldn't_ understand. And time was running out, Yusei needed me now. So I would do whatever it took to protect my world, and help him save his. A strange sensation came over me, like I was leaving my body. But I remained in place. And it would prove beneficial. Every time Stardust evolved into a new form, Red Demons followed. I'm sure there was a tablet waiting to fall to the surface of the world, one calling to Jack.

For the first time in a long time, after however many forevers, blackness took over.

* * *

_Placido's power surged from his mutated form. The glass barriers that made the rounded walls of the Duel Highway exploded, shards slicing through the air. Destruction had come to haunt this place._

"_The town is…"_

_Zero Reverse._

_The devastation that tore Neo-Domino apart once. It was almost like it was about to happen again._

"_Stop it… STOP IT!"_

_The D-Wheel accelerated, ramming into him. Again and again. Until he stopped._

I would bring an end to it. Everything. One more chance. That was what I had been given and that was what I was going to use. A second Zero Reverse would never happen so long as I breathed.

"_Yusei!"_

He stood there, on the Duel Highway. Half of the world brightened, becoming the white plain that was Z-ONE. I had succeeded in infiltrating his mind. Desperate measures, yes, but something had to be done. I understood that if he didn't learn the truth, he couldn't unlock his full potential. My eyes opened slowly, viewing him upside down his world.

"You" he gasped.

"Yusei… you have to unleash Accel Synchro. The power will not create another Zero Reverse. _You_ are the one that holds an alternate possibility, not your enemy".

"Who are you?" he asked, stepping forward.

There was no hiding. I had cracked Aki's mask as the Black Rose Witch. He would crack mine. There was no repairing something with a split across him. My shell rotated, reversing the sight I witnessed and matching Yusei's form. I was opposite him, the right way up. Like a doppelganger… if I could call myself another of him.

"The truth of this matter is not something you will embrace easily" I warned, setting my eyes on him. "if the truth becomes too much, then the alternate possibility you have may crumble. The world may fall under the motive of the enemy". There was still so much about Yliaster I didn't know; just what _was_ Placido's motive? Who had sent him? Who was the man Rudger met at the Nazca Lines who turned him against his birthright?

"I won't lose".

I smirked. He certainly held spirit still, but he had already been shaken once.

"I am telling you now; the words of you opponent had struck your heart and undermined what you hold, but you cannot allow it to continue. You must not lose faith when you come to grasp the situation".

He lowered his head, as though a nod that never finished. Around me, the shell dissolved, gradually revealing my body to him. My skin had become slightly darker overtime compared to how pale he was. His eyes widened as he gazed upon me, shocked to see another wearing his face. I opened my eyes sternly, watching the expression of shock that matched the one he wore as he stared at the blank Synchro Monster card. The small scar beneath my right eye was exposed to another for the first time.

"We are the same" I murmured, my voice free of the disguise my shell created, manipulating the sounds that came from inside. "But you have attained something I could not. You have moved further towards the future than I have. I am a shadow of another you… _Yusei Fudo_".

Let's see what path you feel is right. And what future it will open for our worlds.


End file.
